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Environmental and indigenous rights organizations all over the world reacted with shock and concern over the recent killing of Berta Cáceres, indigenous activist and head of COPINH, the Civic Council of Popular Indigenous Organisations of Honduras.
URGENT ACTION ALERT: Gustavo Castro Soto, Mexican human rights defender and sole witness of the killing of Berta Cáceres, is in danger. Write to Honduran, Mexican and embassy authorities demanding security for Gustavo.BIC, along with over 50 other organizations, has signed an open letter to the president of Honduras (Spanish|español) demanding justice for Berta. The letter calls for the Honduran state to ensure that indigenous activists are able to carry out their work without fear for their safety.
Mrs Cáceres was shot dead by gunmen in the late hours of 2 March 2016. Over the years she had received multiple death threats and attempted kidnappings because of her work defending indigenous Lenca land against the Agua Zarca dam project in Río Blanco. These threats had escalated in recent weeks since construction of the dam had restarted. According to the New York Times, Mrs Cáceres was granted emergency protection measures by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights because of her acute vulnerability, but she claimed the Honduran state did not fully implement them.
This was the most high-profile killing within a growing trend in the murder, violence and intimidation of people defending indigenous land rights in Honduras. According to Global Witness, and as described in Democracy Now!, Honduras is the world’s most dangerous country per capita to be an environmental or land defender. Last year, US Senator Barbara Boxer wrote a letter to US Secretary of State John Kerry urging for better protection of environmental defenders in Honduras. This was in direct response to Berta Cáceres winning the 2015 Goldman Environment Prize – a prestigious award recognizing grassroots environmental activists from around the world.
Terry Odendahl, President and CEO of Global Greengrants Fund, stated “I am deeply saddened about the death of my friend and courageous leader Berta Cáceres. Her assassination is another horrific example of the violence against environmental activists and the criminalization of people, particularly women and indigenous peoples, around the world who are fighting to protect human and environmental rights.” Their full statement is published here.
Berta’s colleague Gustavo Castro Soto was also injured during the attack. Gustavo is Mexican and a member of the organization Otros Mundos Chiapas/Friends of the Earth-Mexico, the Mexican Network of Mining-Affected Peoples and the Mesoamerican Movement against the Extractive Mining Model (M4). Civil society orgnaizations around the world are calling for all legal and political measures possible to guarantee the immediate protection of Gustavo Castro, as well as all members of COPINH.
Please send a letter to Honduran, Mexican and embassy authorities demanding security for Gustavo and to halt the criminalization against COPINH. TAKE ACTION: #JusticiaParaBerta and #SeguridadParaGustavo
Civil society organizations are also demanding that international dam builders to pull out of Agua Zarca Dam immediately.